–– Registration as of 4:45 p.m. Friday, July 5: 410 delegates, 1,022 nondelegates both in-person and virtual (45 people attended virtually), for a total of 1,432 participants. –– Worship attendance in-person on Friday evening: 935. — The worship offering for the Core Ministries of the Church of the Brethren, with a focus on the Discipleship
“What do we do if there’s a mouse in the cabin?” asked one of the 31 youth who traveled to Camp Brethren Heights, around an hour north of the Annual Conference in Grand Rapids, for a service project, lunch, and swimming in the lake.
On July 4, I attended the Womaen’s Caucus Dinner to hear Heidi Ramer share about her mother’s experience of sexual assault and trauma within the Church of the Brethren. If you’re not familiar with the story, I encourage you to pick up a copy of Her Words, My Voice by Heidi Ramer, which includes excerpts from her mother Karen’s personal diaries.
Galen Jay, a lifelong camper, volunteer, and employee at Camp Mack in Milford, Ind., was asked at the Outdoor Ministries Association (OMA) breakfast just when he had last been to a Church of the Brethren Annual Conference. Without hesitation he answered, “1962, Ocean Grove, New Jersey.”
“This is one of my soapbox topics,” said Audri Svay, a pastor at Eel River Church of the Brethren in Indiana. Her soapbox was planted firmly in the title of her talk at the Brethren Press and Messenger dinner: “The Power of Words to Form Identity.”
On Earth Peace requested a revision in the document governing how the organization is connected to Annual Conference as a reportable agency, an interim measure until a new covenant between the agency and Annual Conference is finalized in 2025.
The Standing with People of Color Committee of Annual Conference is two thirds of the way through its three-year mandate, but the work of the church in using the results of their efforts is just beginning. Most study committees produce position statements on issues of the day, but this committee reports its mission to be “to provide connection, education, and inspiration for action on this continuing area of concern.”
Bits and pieces of the day, Thursday, at the 2024 Annual Conference
The attendees at the Almuerzo de Líderes Hermanos de Habla Hispana (Spanish Speaking Brethren Leaders Luncheon) spoke Spanish, English, and Haitian Creole, sometimes but not always translated from one tongue to another.
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.” So it says in scripture (Ecclesiastes 3:1), and so, it seems, is the case for the Association of the Arts in the Church of the Brethren (AACB), which has announced that this is the last year the group will host quilting at Annual Conference.
